Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan each hit home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
“I was 100% sure he was coming sinker,” Winn said while addressing the media.
Masyn Winn hitting his 13th homerun of the season
Winn belted a hanging slider from Reds starter Jakob Junis into the left-field stands for his 13th home run of the season in the bottom of the third inning, that gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
“He threw a slider, so I kind of got lucky there. He threw it right down the middle so I didn't really have to think about where it was going to end up. I don't think I did that all year, swinging at a first pitch slider, so I was more happy about that than hitting a home run,” Masyn Winn continued.
The Cardinals shortstop had been in the lineup for nearly a month straight before getting a day off on Tuesday. Although Winn's struggling this month, batting just .114 (4-for-35) in September with two walks and 12 strikeouts over eight games, he’s still maintaining his place as the leadoff hitter.
For the season, the shortstop boasts a .271/.319/.406 slash line, with 11 steals, 12 home runs, 49 RBI, and 70 runs scored in 135 games.
Winn crossed the plate on Nootbaar’s sacrifice fly off Carson Spiers (5-6) in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage.
Sonny Gray boosting the Cardinals
Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (13-9) was flawless through five innings before Jake Fraley led off the sixth with a single. Gray completed the game allowing one run on two hits and two walks, while striking out nine over six innings.
“From the very beginning of that game, he was locked in,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol praised Gray.
“All his stuff was working. The cutter was good. His breaking stuff was good. That sinker, he used it in off the plate, but he also was able to free some guys, bought a strike on the outer half to the righty. When he’s able to do all of that, it’s a tough at bat,” he continued.
Andrew Kittredge threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and JoJo Romero closed out the game with four straight outs to notch his first save of the season.
In the eighth inning, Thomas Saggese recorded his first career RBI by singling to center to bring Lars Nootbaar home. This came after he earned his first major league hit in the sixth inning.
Brendan Donovan belted a two-run homer to right field in the seventh inning, pinch-hitting for Jordan Walker and pushing the St. Louis lead to 4-1. This home run marked Donovan’s first career pinch-hit homer and set a personal record as his 12th of the season.
Everything went wrong for the Reds
It's rare for the Cardinals to win when their veteran All-Stars, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, go a combined 0-for-7 with three strikeouts.
For the second consecutive game, the Cincinnati Reds experienced déjà vu, but not in a good way. They fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Thursday afternoon, mirroring the issues from their 2-1 loss the day before.
In both games, the starting pitchers delivered strong performances, but the Reds' bullpen faltered while the Cardinals' bullpen excelled.
Cardinals’ Erick Fedde (8-9, 3.39 ERA) will face Blue Jays’ RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.09 ERA) to kick off a three-game series in Toronto on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the Reds wrap up their road trip with a three-game series in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Twins. At 71-77, the Reds find themselves in a tough spot. They’ll need to win 10 of their last 14 games to finish at .500.
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